Method of and system for maximizing the return rate of dynamic inquiries into a population

ABSTRACT

A method of and system for submitting inquiries to members of an organization determine if there is a pending inquiry to be submitted to the member. If there is a pending inquiry to be submitted to the member, the system displays the pending inquiry to the member. The system permits the member to logon to said server if the member responds to said inquiry. The system may allow the member to defer responding to the inquiry and permit the member to logon to the server without responding to the inquiry. If deferral of response to the inquiry is not allowed, the system will deny the member access to the server if the member fails to respond to said inquiry.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Technical Field

The present invention relates generally to the field of informationgathering, and more particularly to a method of and system formaximizing the return rate of dynamic inquiries into a populationcomprising members of an organization.

2. Description of the Related Art

Large organizations, such as corporations, governmental departments,colleges and universities, and the like, regularly ask their members,such as employees or students, to provide information so that theorganization can make decisions. For example, employees are frequentlyasked to complete surveys with respect to their job skills and theirsatisfaction with management or their employment in general.

The ability to respond quickly to requests to complete surveys, skillsassessments, or other data-gathering requests is often hampered by thelarge number of choices that must be responded to coupled with the time,or lack thereof, each individual finds available on any given day torespond to the requests. Additionally, members of an organizationusually need to halt or put aside more pressing tasks in order to accessan entirely different system in order to provide the information.

The foregoing shortcomings associated with current data-gatheringtechniques usually result in low response levels, untimely responses,and poor overall quality of data obtained. Management may have to getinvolved in making members of the organization respond to surveys.Management involvement usually leads to a lack of job satisfaction forboth the managers and the employees.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a method of and system for submittinginquiries to members of an organization. Whenever a member of theorganization requests to logon to a server an embodiment of the presentinvention determines if there is a pending inquiry to be submitted tothe member. If there is a pending inquiry to be submitted to the member,the system displays the pending inquiry to the member as part of thelogon process. The system permits the member to logon to said server ifthe member responds to said inquiry. The system may allow the member todefer responding to the inquiry and permit the member to logon to theserver without responding to the inquiry. If deferral of response to theinquiry is not allowed, the system will deny the member access to theserver if the member fails to respond to said inquiry.

An embodiment of the present invention includes an inquiry registrydatabase. The inquiry registry database includes all inquiries for theorganization. Some or all of the servers of the organization may haveinstalled thereon an inquiry intercept instance that detects an attemptby a member to logon on to the server and determines from the inquiryregistry database if there is a pending inquiry for the member. Aninquiry intercept engine may be coupled between the inquiry interceptinstance and the inquiry registry database. The inquiry intercept enginereceives requests from the inquiry intercept instances and queries theinquiry registry database to provide inquiries to the inquiry interceptinstances. An inquiry registry administration system adds new inquiriesto the inquiry registry database. The inquiry registry administrationsystem also maintains and prioritizes inquiries in the inquiry registrydatabase. An inquiry response database is coupled to the inquiryintercept engine to receive response to inquiries.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The novel features believed characteristic of the invention are setforth in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, as well asa preferred mode of use, further purposes and advantages thereof, willbest be understood by reference to the following detailed description ofan illustrative embodiment when read in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings, where:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a system according to thepresent invention;

FIG. 2 is an illustration of an embodiment of an inquiry registrydatabase record according to the present invention;

FIG. 3 is an illustration of an embodiment of an inquiry registrydatabase index according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an illustration of an embodiment of a logon and inquiry dialogaccording to the present invention;

FIG. 5 is an illustration of a second embodiment of a logon and inquirydialog according to the present invention;

FIG. 6 is flow chart of an embodiment of inquiry intercept instanceprocessing according to the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a flow chart of an embodiment of inquiry intercept engineprocessing according to the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a flow chart of an embodiment of inquiry registry databasequery processing according to the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a flow chart of an embodiment of inquiry registry databaseinquiry answered processing according to the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a flow chart of an embodiment of inquiry registryadministration processing according to the present invention; and,

FIG. 11 is a block diagram of an information handling system adapted toimplement methods and systems according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring now to the drawings and first to FIG. 1, a system according tothe present invention is designated generally by the numeral 100. System100 includes a plurality of user computers 101, including user computers101 a-101 n. Each user computer 101 is coupled to a network 103. Usercomputers 101 may personal computers, notebook computers, workstations,and the like. Each user computer 100 may be associated with a member ofan organization.

System 100 includes a plurality of servers 105, including servers105a-105m. Each server 105 is coupled to network 103. Servers 105provide applications to client software running on user computers 101,as is well known to those skilled in the art. Servers 105 may each beimplemented in a standalone computer system or they may be implementedas virtual machines running on standalone computers. Servers 105 providemost of the tools and services a member of an organization needs inorder to do his or her work. Each server 105 includes logon software 107that enables a user computer 101 to access an application running onserver 105. Each server 105 also includes inquiry intercept instancesoftware 109. According to the present invention, and as will beexplained in detail hereinafter, inquiry intercept instance software 109works with logon software 107 to provide inquiries to users attemptingto logon to a server 105. Inquiries are questions that an organizationroutinely asks its members so that the company can make businessdecisions. Examples of such inquiries are skills assessments, employeesatisfaction surveys, and the like. When an inquiry intercept instance109 detects an attempt to logon to a server 105, inquiry interceptinstance 109 determines if there is a pending inquiry for the userattempting to logon to the server 105. It is contemplated that aninquiry intercept instance 109 will reside on every server 105 in theorganization. Thus, a member of the organization will encounter aninquiry intercept instance 109 whenever the member attempts to use anysystem after initial logon to network 103.

System 100 includes an inquiry intercept engine 111. Inquiry interceptengine 11 is coupled to network 103. Inquiry intercept engine 111receives requests from inquiry intercept instances 109 to determine ifthere is a pending inquiry for a user attempting to logon to a server105. Inquiry intercept engine 111 is coupled to an inquiry registrydatabase 113. Inquiry registry database 113 contains records of pendingsurveys. Inquiry intercept engine 111 submits queries to inquiryregistry database 113 in response to requests received from inquiryintercept instances 109. Inquiry registry database 113 responds toqueries from inquiry intercept engine 111. Inquiry intercept engine of111 returns information to requesting inquiry intercept instances 109.Inquiry intercept engine 111 is also coupled to inquiry responsedatabase 115. Inquiry response database 115 contains responses toinquiries.

System 100 includes an inquiry registry administration system 117.Inquiry registry administration system 117 is a computer that allows anadministrator to input inquiry records into, and work with inquiryrecords in, inquiry registry database 113. Inquiry registry theadministration system 117 enables administrator to prioritize, edit, andotherwise administer inquiry records within inquiry registry database113. Inquiry registry administration system also performs automatedinquiry registry database administration functions.

Referring now to FIG. 2, there is illustrated a form of an inquiryregistry database record 200. Database record 200 includes an inquirynumber 201 and the title of the inquiry 203. Inquiry number 201 is anumber by which a particular inquiry is identified. Database record 200includes the target of the inquiry 205. The target of the inquiry may beindividual users, members of departments or groups within theorganization, all members of the organization, all managers of theorganization, or other groupings within the organization. Databaserecord 200 includes a timeframe 207. The timeframe may be a “respond bydate” or immediate. A timeframe 207 may also include an expiration dateso that old inquiries may be deleted from the system. Database record200 includes the number of questions 209 and the questions themselves211. Finally, database record 200 includes the response type 213 for thequestions. Examples of response type are multiple choice, choose one,choose many, freeform input, and the like.

FIG. 3 illustrates a portion of an index 300 to the inquiry registrydatabase. Index 300 includes a list of user IDs 301, which includesevery member of the organization. Associated with each user ID of list301 is a list of pending inquiries 303. List 303 is populated with thepending inquiries for each member of the organization. When inquiryregistry administration 117 of FIG. 1 adds an inquiry record 200 to theinquiry registry database, inquiry registry administration assigns aninquiry number to the inquiry and uses target of inquiry information 205to determine with which user IDs to associate the inquiry. In inquirynumbers within index 300 may be listed in order of priority.

Referring now to FIG. 4, there is a pictorial representation of a logonand inquiry dialog box 401 according to the present invention. The toppart is dialog box 401 is a typical logon dialog including a user namedrop-down field 403 and a password field 405. The top part of dialog box401 includes a “Remember my password” check box 407 as well as an OKbutton 409 and a cancel button 411. The bottom part of dialog box 401includes an inquiry. An inquiry intercept instance 109 of FIG. 1constructs the inquiry from the inquiry record information in FIG. 2.Two questions 413 and 415 are presented in dialog box 401. The answerchoices are presented using radio button controls, such as radio buttoncontrol 417. As is known to those skilled in the art, radio buttoncontrols allow a user to choose one answer. Dialog box 401 advises theuser the purpose for which the questions will be used and that the userwill be able to continue with the logon process after having answeredthe questions. In the embodiment of FIG. 4, dialog box 401 advises theuser of the day by which a response is needed. In the embodiment of FIG.4, dialog box 401 includes a checkbox 419 that enables the user to deferresponding until later. If the user checks checkbox 419, the user canlogon without responding.

FIG. 5 illustrates a second embodiment of a logon and inquiry dialog box501. According to the present invention dialog box 501 is similar todialog box 401. However, dialog box 501 does not permit the user todefer responding to the inquiry. The user will not be permitted to logonto the application without responding to the inquiry. Thus, the userwill have to respond to the inquiry before being permitted to use theapplication.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart of an embodiment of inquiry intercept instanceprocessing according to the present invention. The inquiry interceptinstance detects a logon attempt at block 601. The inquiry interceptinstance sends to the inquiry intercept engine the user ID of the userattempting to logon and waits for a response at block 603. If, asdetermined at decision block 605, the inquiry intercept engine returns“no inquiry pending,” the inquiry intercept instance allows the user toproceed with logon, as indicated at block 607. If, as determined atdecision block 605, an inquiry is pending, the inquiry interceptinstance builds and displays an inquiry dialog and waits for user input,as indicated at block 609. Inquiry intercept instance processing willcontinue when the user activates either OK button 409 or cancel button411 of FIGS. 3 and 4. If, as determined at decision block 611, the userinput is not OK, which implies that the user has selected cancel, theinquiry intercept instance cancels the logon attempt, as indicated atblock 613, and processing ends. If the user has activated the OK button,then the inquiry intercept instance determines, at decision block 615,if “defer” is an available choice. If so, the inquiry intercept instancedetermines, at decision block 617, if the user has selected defer. Ifso, the inquiry intercept instance proceeds with logon, as indicated atblock 607. If, as determined at decision block 615, defer is notavailable, or, as determined at decision block 617, the user has notchosen to defer responding, the inquiry intercept instance determines,at decision block 619, if the user has answered all of the questions. Ifnot, the inquiry intercept instance cancels logon attempt, at block 613,and processing ends. If the user has answered all of the questions, thenthe inquiry intercept instance sends the answers to the inquiry to theinquiry intercept engine, at block 521, proceeds with logon, at block607, and processing ends.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart of an embodiment of inquiry intercept engineprocessing according to the present invention. The inquiry interceptengine receives a message from an inquiry intercept instance, at block701. The inquiry intercept engine determines, at decision block 703, ifthe message received is a user ID logon. If not, which implies thatanswers have been received, the inquiry intercept engine sends theanswers for the user ID to the inquiry registry database, as indicatedat block 705, and sends an inquiry answered for user ID message toinquiry registry database, as indicated at block 706. If, as determinedat decision block 703, the message is a user ID logon, the inquiryintercept engine queries the inquiry registry database for pendinginquiries for the user, as indicated at block 707. If, as determined atdecision block 709, the inquiry intercept engine receives a no pendinginquiries message, the inquiry intercept engine sends a no pendinginquiries message to the requesting inquiry intercept instance, atdecision block 711, and processing ends. If there are pending inquiries,the inquiry intercept engine sends the pending inquiry received from theinquiry registry database to the requesting inquiry intercept instance,at block 713, and processing ends.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart of an embodiment of inquiry registry databasequery processing according to the present invention. The inquiryregistry database receives a query for a user ID at block 801. Theinquiry registry searches database the index of FIG. 3 for the user ID.If, as determined at decision block 803, the pending inquiries for theuser ID is equal to NONE, the inquiry registry database sends a nopending inquiries message to the inquiry intercept engine, as indicatedat block 805. If, as determined at decision block 803, pending inquiriesis not equal to NONE, the inquiry registry database sends the firstpending inquiry for the user ID to the inquiry intercept engine, asindicated at block 807, and processing ends.

FIG. 9 is a flow chart of an embodiment of inquiry registry databaseinquiry answered processing according to the present invention. Theregistry database receives an inquiry answered for user ID message, asindicated at block 901. The inquiry registry database deletes theanswered inquiry number from the list of pending inquiries for the userID, as indicated at block 903. Then, the inquiry registry databasedetermines, at decision block 905, if there are more pending inquiriesfor the user ID. If not, the inquiry registry database inserts NONE, atblock 907, and processing ends.

FIG. 10 is a flow chart of an embodiment of automated inquiry registryadministration processing according to the present invention. Automatedinquiry registry administration processing may be performed once a day,preferably during periods of low system utilization so as not tonegatively impact response times. The automated inquiry registryadministration goes to the first or next record in the inquiry registrydatabase, as indicated at block 1001. Then, inquiry registrationadministration determines, at decision block 1003, if the expire date ofthe record is greater than today's date. If so, the record is deleted,as indicated at block 1005. If the expiration date of the record is notgreater than today's date, the inquiry registry administrationdetermines, at decision block 1007, if the timeframe for the record isimmediate. If not, inquiry registry administration determines, atdecision block 1009, if the need by date of the record is equal totoday's date. If so, inquiry registry administration changes thetimeframe to immediate, at block 1011. Then, inquiry registryadministration determines, at decision block 1013, if there are any morerecords. If so, processing returns to block 1001. If not, processingends.

Referring now to FIG. 11, there is illustrated a block diagram of ageneric information handling system 1100 capable of performing theserver and client operations described herein. Computer system 1100includes processor 1101 which is coupled to host bus 1103. Processor1101 preferably includes an onboard cache memory. A level two (L2) cachememory 1105 is also coupled to host bus 1103. A Host-to-PCI bridge 1107is coupled to host bus 1103. Host-to-PCI bridge 1107, which is coupledto main memory 1109, includes its own cache memory and main memorycontrol functions. Host-to-PCI bridge 1107 provides bus control tohandle transfers among a PCI bus 1111, processor 1101, L2 cache 1105,main memory 1109, and host bus 1103. PCI bus 1111 provides an interfacefor a variety of devices including, for example, a local area network(LAN) card 1113, a PCI-to-ISA bridge 1115, which provides bus control tohandle transfers between PCI bus 1111 and an ISA bus 1117, a universalserial bus (USB) 1119, and an IDE device 1121. PCI-to-ISA bridge 1115also includes onboard power management functionality. PCI-to-ISA bridge1115 can include other functional elements not shown, such as areal-time clock (RTC), DMA control, interrupt support, and systemmanagement bus support.

Peripheral devices and input/output (I/O) devices can be attached tovarious interfaces or ports coupled to ISA bus 1117. Such interfaces orports may include a parallel port 1123, a serial port 1125, an infrared(IR) interface 1127, a keyboard interface 1129, a mouse interface 1131,and a hard disk drive (HDD) 1133.

A BIOS 1135 is coupled to ISA bus 1117. BIOS 1135 incorporates thenecessary processor executable code for a variety of low-level systemfunctions and system boot functions. BIOS 1135 can be stored in anycomputer readable medium, including magnetic storage media, opticalstorage media, flash memory, random access memory, read only memory, andcommunications media conveying signals encoding the instructions (e.g.,signals from a network). In order to couple computer system 1100 toanother computer system to copy files or send and receive messages overa network, LAN card 1113 may be coupled to PCI bus 1111. Similarly, aFibre Channel card may be coupled to PCI bus 1113. Additionally, a modem1139 may be coupled to ISA bus 1117 through serial port 1125 to supportdial-up connections.

While the computer system described in FIG. 8 is capable of executingthe invention described herein, the illustrated system is simply oneexample of a computer system. Those skilled in the art will appreciatethat many other computer system designs are capable of performing theinvention described herein.

One of the preferred implementations of the invention is an application,namely, a set of instructions (program code) in a code module that may,for example, be in the random access memory of the computer. Untilrequired by the computer, the set of instructions may be stored inanother computer memory, for example, on a hard disk drive, or inremovable storage such as an optical disk (for eventual use in a CD ROM)or floppy disk (for eventual use in a floppy disk drive), or downloadedvia the Internet or other computer network. Thus, the present inventionmay be implemented as a computer program product for use in a computer.In addition, although the various methods described are convenientlyimplemented in a general purpose computer selectively activated orreconfigured by software, one of ordinary skill in the art would alsorecognize that such methods may be carried out in hardware, in firmware,or in more specialized apparatus constructed to perform the requiredmethod steps.

From the foregoing, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art thatsystems and methods according to the present invention are well adaptedto overcome the shortcomings of the prior art. While the presentinvention has been described with reference to presently preferredembodiments, those skilled in the art, given the benefit of theforegoing description, will recognize alternative embodiments.Accordingly, the foregoing description is intended for purposes ofillustration and not of limitation.

1. A method of submitting inquiries to members of an organization, whichcomprises: receiving a request from a member of an organization to logonto a server; determining if there is a pending inquiry to be submittedto said member; and, if there is a pending inquiry to be submitted tosaid member, displaying said pending inquiry to said member.
 2. Themethod as claimed in claim 1, including: permitting said member to logonto said server if said member responds to said inquiry.
 3. The method asclaimed in claim 1, including: denying access to said server if saidmember fails to respond to said inquiry.
 4. The method as claimed inclaim 1, including: permitting said member to defer responding to saidinquiry.
 5. The method as claimed in claim 4, wherein permitting saidmember to defer responding to said inquiry comprises: displaying a defercontrol.
 6. The method as claimed in claim 4, including: permitting saidmember to logon if said member defers responding to said inquiry.
 7. Themethod as claimed in claim 1, including: maintaining an inquiry registrydatabase for said organization, said inquiry registry database includingall inquiries for said organization.
 8. The method as claimed in claim7, wherein determining if there is a pending inquiry to be submitted tosaid member comprises: querying said inquiry registry database.
 9. Themethod as claimed in claim 7, including; prioritizing said inquiries insaid inquiry registry database; and, displaying to said member highestpriority pending inquiry.
 10. The method as claimed in claim 1,including: maintaining an inquiry response database for saidorganization.
 11. A system for submitting inquiries to members of anorganization, which comprises: an inquiry registry database, saidinquiry registry database including all inquiries for said organization;and, an inquiry intercept instance residing on to a server coupled tosaid inquiry registry database, said inquiry intercept instance beingconfigured, in response to an attempt by a member to logon to saidserver, to determine if said inquiry registry database includes aninquiry for said member.
 12. The system as claimed in claim 11, whereinsaid inquiry intercept instance is further configured to display aninquiry to said member in response to an attempt by said member to logonto said server.
 13. The system as claimed in claim 12, wherein saidinquiry intercept instance is further configured to permit said memberto logon to said server if said member answers said inquiry.
 14. Thesystem as claimed in claim 12, wherein said inquiry intercept instanceis further configured to deny said member access to said server if saidmember fails to answer said inquiry.
 15. The system as claimed in claim11, including: an inquiry intercept engine coupled between said serverand said inquiry registry database, said inquiry intercept engine beingconfigured to query said inquiry registry database in response torequests from said inquiry intercept instance.
 16. The system as claimedin claim 15, including: an inquiry response database coupled to saidinquiry intercept engine, said inquiry response database includingresponses to inquiries.
 17. An article of manufacture for implementing amethod of submitting inquiries to members of an organization, whichcomprises: a computer readable medium having computer readable codethereon, said compute readable code comprising: instructions fordetecting an attempt by a member to logon to a server; instructions fordetermining if there is a pending inquiry to be submitted to saidmember; and, instructions for displaying said pending inquiry to saidmember.
 18. The article of manufacture as claimed in claim 17, whereinsaid computer readable code further comprises: instructions forpermitting said member to logon to said server if said member respondsto said inquiry.
 19. The article of manufacture as claimed in claim 17,wherein said computer readable code further comprises: instructions fordenying access to said server if said member fails to respond to saidinquiry.
 20. The article of manufacture as claimed in claim 17, whereinsaid computer readable code further comprises: instructions forpermitting said member to defer responding to said inquiry.